It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: August 8, 2025 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
72
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Original-CinKaren GordonAug 18, 2025
It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley is a reminder of the beauty of what he was looking for, and why his loss still reverberates so many years after his death. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleAug 12, 2025
It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley is a repudiating of the typical narrative of inescapable fate, instead pursuing the richness of a gifted artist’s ups and downs. Director Amy Berg would rather us see Buckley as he was in the world instead of some conveniently doom-laden figure. Read full review
90
VarietyOwen GleibermanJan 30, 2025
I defy you to see It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley and not fall in love with Jeff Buckley’s voice. By the time the film is over, you want to find a way to go back and rescue him to let him live the life he should have. Read full review
83
IndieWireHarrison RichlinFeb 1, 2025
Every clip of Buckley performing lifts the film off the ground, highlighting how his talents often felt otherworldly. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawFeb 12, 2026
[Berg] uses Jeff’s answering machine messages and archive 90s material, including the unmistakable, moody black-and-white MTV footage, to tell a very sad story with sympathy and urgency. Read full review
80
NMEMatthew TurnerApr 11, 2025
Apart from the occasional prickly moment of sadness, It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley is largely celebratory. Read full review
80
Rolling StoneDavid FearJan 28, 2025
Buckley hasn’t had a million portraits sketched of him, much less to this degree. The singularity of It’s Never Over, along with the access and the candor, makes up for a lot here. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoAug 8, 2025
It’s a deeply personal film, a life story told by the people who knew and loved Jeff. It hums with the emotion and vibrancy of Buckley’s music. Read full review
75
The Film StageDan MeccaAug 6, 2025
Amy Berg’s It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley is an impressive archival document as well as a celebration of the life of a tortured artist. Read full review
70
Little White LiesClaire BiddlesFeb 10, 2026
Using interviews with friends and collaborators alongside a rich cache of archival footage, Berg showcases Buckley’s complex personality, and goes some way to argue for his music as radical and experimental. Read full review
70
The New York TimesBrandon YuAug 7, 2025
Most artist documentaries attempt but rarely get to a true and palpable essence of their subjects, but it’s this sense of his earnestly tender nature, pieced together from loved ones and old archive interviews of Buckley, that leaves an impression. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJan 30, 2025
It’s Never Over might not be the Buckley bio everyone needs, but it’s a stirring tribute made with a lot of heart. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesAug 14, 2025
An impression is ultimately all that coalesces in 105 minutes, and I wonder if that has something to do with how little the film engages with his songwriting. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineChris BarsantiAug 4, 2025
The film is a resonant depiction of the gaping holes left by Jeff Buckley’s untimely death. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreJul 24, 2025
It gives Buckley fans lots of the music and some of the details and color of the life that Buckley lived. Read full review
60
ColliderRoss BonaimeAug 12, 2025
Berg’s documentary is at its strongest when it focuses on the musical legacy that Buckley was so concerned about that he would leave behind, and less so when it tries to delve deeper into who Buckley was as a person. Read full review
60
Time OutElizabeth WeitzmanAug 7, 2025
Fans, of course, will fiercely argue that Buckley has so much more to offer. And in the strongest compliment to Berg’s affectionate portrait, she makes a similarly convincing case, with ample and tender grace. Read full review
58
The PlaylistChase HutchinsonJan 30, 2025
It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley doesn’t do much of anything new with the documentary form, though still excavates plenty of interesting details within a familiar package. Read full review
50
Screen RantMary KasselAug 7, 2025
The documentary doesn't know who Jeff Buckley was. However, it might expose what we are desperate to get from him, long past the time he has anything left to give. Read full review
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